Belgrade  - Russian energy giant Gazprom completed the purchase of a majority stake in the Serbian oil monopoly NIS Monday by wiring 400 million euros (512 million dollars) to Belgrade.

Serbia and Gazprom agreed the sale of 51 per cent of the NIS capital a year ago, but the deal was delayed by early elections in Serbia, as well as a strife within the new ruling coalition.

Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic had criticized the deal as unfavourable for Serbia, but his objections faded as the financial crisis began taking its toll in Serbia.

Belgrade  - Serbs in northern Kosovo on Monday called for the Serbian parliament to hold a session in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica on February 17 in an effort to show Kosovo Albanians that their declaration of independence is illegal, local media reported.

Kosovo's Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008 and was recognized by more than 50 countries including the United States and a majority of European Union. But Serbia opposes Kosovo's independence.

Belgrade - Thousands of Albanians in southern Serbia protested Monday asking for an immediate release of a group of Albanians arrested in December over crimes against Serbs, Belgrade media reported.

Around 3,000 Albanians gathered in Presevo town in southern Serbia, near a border with Kosovo, demanding the release of members of the so-called Gnjilanska group suspected of murdering, torturing and raping Kosovo Serbs from 1999 to 2001.

Belgrade  - Serbia could start receiving Russian gas at the earliest on Tuesday afternoon, but it will take at least three days to normalize gas system, Serbian officials said Monday.

Serbian Energy Minister Petar Skundric said it will take between 12 to 24 hours for the gas to reach Serbia.

Dusan Bajatovic, the head of Serbia's gas company Srbijagas, said it will take 72 hours, from the moment Ukraine releases the gas, for the local system to fully normalize.

Belgrade - The governor of Serbia's central bank on Saturday welcomed a 530.3-million-dollar standby loan from the International Monetary Fund to help it weather the global financial crisis, calling it a "positive mark" for Serbia's economy.

The IMF approved the loan on Friday. Under the deal, 353.3 million dollars would be immediately available to Serbia. However, the government has said it only plans to tap the 15-month standby arrangement if absolutely necessary.

"There is still no need to use those funds," central bank governor Radovan Jelasic told Belgrade media.

Belgrade - One person has died and hundreds have been injured in Serbia after slipping on ice caused by freezing rain that's been falling for days, local media reported Thursday.

An elderly man died Thursday after falling on ice, while emergency rooms around the country are packed with people that have suffered broken arms, legs or hips.

More than 850 people were treated in Belgrade's Clinical Centre alone in the past 48 hours, hospital's spokesman Drago Jovanovic told journalists. "This is the worst rush we had in the past 15 years," he said.